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Aunts, uncles, nieces or nephews
In the Netherlands, marrying one's nephew or niece is legal, but only with the explicit permission of the Dutch Government, due to the possible risk of genetic defects among the offspring. Nephew-niece marriages predominantly occur among foreign immigrants. In November 2008, the Christian Democratic (CDA) party's Scientific Institute announced that it wanted a ban on marriages to nephews and nieces.

Consensual sex between adults (persons of 18 years and older) is always lawful in the Netherlands and Belgium, even among closely related family members. Sexual acts between an adult family member and a minor are illegal, though they are not classified as incest, but as abuse of the authority such an adult has over a minor, comparable to that of a teacher, coach or priest.

In Florida, consensual adult sexual intercourse with someone known to be your aunt, uncle, niece or nephew constitutes a felony of the third degree. Other states also commonly prohibit marriages between such kin. The legality of sex with a half-aunt or half-uncle varies state by state.

In the United Kingdom, incest includes only sexual intercourse with a parent, grandparent, child or sibling, but the more recently introduced offence of "sex with an adult relative" extends also as far as half-siblings, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces. However, the term 'incest' remains widely used in popular culture to describe any form of sexual activity with a relative. In Canada, marriage between uncles and nieces and between aunts and nephews is legal.

Between adult siblings
The most public case of consensual adult sibling incest in recent years is the case of a brother-sister couple from Germany, Patrick Stübing and Susan Karolewski. Because of violent behavior on the part of his father, Patrick was taken in at the age of 3 by foster parents, who adopted him later. At the age of 23 he learned about his biological parents, contacted his mother, and met her and his then 16-year-old sister Susan for the first time. The now-adult Patrick moved in with his birth family shortly thereafter. After their mother died suddenly six months later, the siblings became intimately close, and had their first child together in 2001. By 2004, they had four children together: Eric, Sarah, Nancy, and Sofia. The public nature of their relationship, and the repeated prosecutions and even jail time they have served as a result, has caused some in Germany to question whether incest between consenting adults should be punished at all. An article about them in Der Spiegel states that the couple are happy together. According to court records, the first three children have mental and physical disabilities, and have been placed in foster care. In April 2012, at the European Court of Human Rights, Patrick Stübing lost his case that the conviction violated his right to a private and family life. On September 24, 2014, the German Ethics Council has recommended that the government abolish laws criminalizing incest between siblings, arguing that such bans impinge upon citizens.

Some societies differentiate between full sibling and half sibling relations. In ancient societies, full sibling and half sibling marriages occurred.

Cousin relationships


Marriages and sexual relationships between first cousins are stigmatized as incest in some cultures, but tolerated in much of the world. Currently, 24 US states prohibit marriages between first cousins, and another seven permit them only under special circumstances. The United Kingdom permits both marriage and sexual relations between first cousins.

In some non-Western societies, marriages between close biological relatives account for 20% to 60% of all marriages.

First- and second-cousin marriages are rare, accounting for less than 1% of marriages in Western Europe, North America and Oceania, while reaching 9% in South America, East Asia and South Europe and about 50% in regions of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Communities such as the Dhond and the Bhittani of Pakistan clearly prefer marriages between cousins as belief they ensure purity of the descent line, provide intimate knowledge of the spouses, and ensure that patrimony will not pass into the hands of "outsiders". Cross-cousin marriages are preferred among the Yanomami of Brazilian Amazonia, among many other tribal societies identified by anthropologists.

There are some cultures in Asia which stigmatize cousin marriage, in some instances even marriages between second cousins or more remotely related people. This is notably true in the culture of Korea. In South Korea, before 1997, anyone with the same last name and clan were prohibited from marriage. In light of this law being held unconstitutional, South Korea now only prohibits up to third cousins (see Article 809 of the Korean Civil Code). Hmong culture prohibits the marriage of anyone with the same last name – to do so would result in being shunned by the entire community, and they are usually stripped of their last name. Some Hindu communities in India prohibit cousin marriages.

In a review of 48 studies on the children parented by cousins, the rate of birth defects was twice that of non-related couples: 4% for cousin couples as opposed to 2% for the general population.

Defined through marriage
Some cultures include relatives by marriage in incest prohibitions; these relationships are called affinity rather than consanguinity. For example, the question of the legality and morality of a widower who wished to marry his deceased wife's sister was the subject of long and fierce debate in the United Kingdom in the 19th century, involving, among others, Matthew Boulton and Charles La Trobe. The marriages were entered into in Scotland and Switzerland respectively, where they were legal. In medieval Europe, standing as a godparent to a child also created a bond of affinity. But in other societies, a deceased spouse's sibling was considered the ideal person to marry. The Hebrew Bible forbids a man from marrying his brother's widow with the exception that, if his brother died childless, the man is instead required to marry his brother's widow so as to "raise up seed to him" (per ). Some societies have long practiced sororal polygyny, a form of polygamy in which a man marries multiple wives who are sisters to each other (though not closely related to him).

In Islamic law, marriage among close blood relations like parents, stepparent, parents in-law, siblings, stepsiblings, the children of siblings, aunts and uncles is forbidden, while first or second cousins may marry. Marrying the widow of a brother, or the sister of deceased or divorced wife is also allowed.

Inbreeding
Offspring of biologically related parents are subject to the possible impact of inbreeding. Such offspring have a higher possibility of congenital birth defects (see Coefficient of relationship) because it increases the proportion of zygotes that are homozygous for deleterious recessive alleles that produce such disorders (see Inbreeding depression). Because most such alleles are rare in populations, it is unlikely that two unrelated marriage partners will both be heterozygous carriers. However, because close relatives share a large fraction of their alleles, the probability that any such rare deleterious allele present in the common ancestor will be inherited from both related parents is increased dramatically with respect to non-inbred couples. Contrary to common belief, inbreeding does not in itself alter allele frequencies, but rather increases the relative proportion of homozygotes to heterozygotes. This has two contrary effects. The closer two persons are related, the higher the zygosity, and thus the more severe the biological costs of inbreeding. This fact likely explains why inbreeding between close relatives, such as siblings, is less common than inbreeding between cousins.
 * In the short term, because incestuous reproduction increases zygosity, deleterious recessive alleles will express themselves more frequently, leading to increases in spontaneous abortions of zygotes, perinatal deaths, and postnatal offspring with birth defects.
 * In the long run, however, because of this increased exposure of deleterious recessive alleles to natural selection, their frequency decreases more rapidly in inbred population, leading to a "healthier" population (with fewer deleterious recessive alleles).

There may also be other deleterious effects besides those caused by recessive diseases. Thus, similar immune systems may be more vulnerable to infectious diseases (see Major histocompatibility complex and sexual selection).

A 1994 study found a mean excess mortality with inbreeding among first cousins of 4.4%. Children of parent-child or sibling-sibling unions are at increased risk compared to cousin-cousin unions. Studies suggest that 20-36% of these children will die or have major disability due to the inbreeding. A study of 29 offspring resulting from brother-sister or father-daughter incest found that 20 had congenital abnormalities, including four directly attributable to autosomal recessive alleles.

Laws
Laws regarding sexual activity between close relatives vary considerably between jurisdictions, and depend on the type of sexual activity and the nature of the family relationship of the parties involved, as well as the age and sex of the parties. Prohibition of incest laws may extend to restrictions on marriage rights, which also vary between jurisdictions. Most jurisdictions prohibit parent-child and sibling marriages, while others also prohibit first-cousin and uncle-niece and aunt-nephew marriages. In most places, incest is illegal, regardless of the ages of the two partners. In other countries, incestuous relationships between consenting adults (with the age varying by location) are permitted, including in the Netherlands, France, Slovenia and Spain. Sweden is the only country that allows marriage between half-siblings and they must seek government counseling before marriage.

While the legality of consensual incest varies by country, sexual assault committed against a relative is usually seen as a very serious crime. In some legal systems, the fact of a perpetrator being a close relative to the victim constitutes an aggravating circumstance in the case of sexual crimes such as rape and sexual conduct with a minor – this is the case in Romania.

Jewish
According to the Torah, per, "the children of Israel"—Israelite men and women alike—are forbidden from sexual relations between people who are "near of kin" (verse 6), who are defined as:


 * Parents and children (verse 7)
 * Siblings and half siblings (verses 9 and 11). Relationships between these are particularly singled out for a curse in Deuteronomy 27, and they are of the only two kinds incestuous relationships that are among the particularly-singled-out relationships—with the other particularly-singled-out relationships being ones of non-incestuous family betrayal (cf. verse 20) and bestiality (cf. verse 21)
 * Grandparents and grandchildren (verse 10)
 * Aunts and nephews, uncles and nieces, etc. (verses 12–14). Relationships between these are the second kind of relationships that are particularly singled out for a curse in Deuteronomy 27, and the explicit examples of children-in-law and mothers-in-law (verse 23) serves to remind the Israelites that the parents-in-law are also (or at least should be also) the children-in-laws' aunts and uncles:

"And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying: 'The tribe of the sons of Joseph speaketh right. This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying: Let them be married to whom they think best; only into the family of the tribe of their father shall they be married. So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe; for the children of Israel shall cleave every one to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may possess every man the inheritance of his fathers. So shall no inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; for the tribes of the children of Israel shall cleave each one to its own inheritance.' Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad. For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons."

Incestuous relationships are considered so severe among chillulim HaShem, acts which bring shame to the name of God, as to be, along with the other forbidden relationships that are mentioned in Leviticus 18, punishable by death as specified in Leviticus 20.

In the 4th century BCE, the Soferim (scribes) declared that there were relationships within which marriage constituted incest, in addition to those mentioned by the Torah. These additional relationships were termed seconds (Hebrew: sheniyyot), and included the wives of a man's grandfather and grandson. The classical rabbis prohibited marriage between a man and any of these seconds of his, on the basis that doing so would act as a safeguard against infringing the biblical incest rules, although there was inconclusive debate about exactly what the limits should be for the definition of seconds.

Marriages that are forbidden in the Torah (with the exception of uncle-niece marriages) were regarded by the rabbis of the Middle Ages as invalid – as if they had never occurred; any children born to such a couple were regarded as bastards under Jewish law, and the relatives of the spouse were not regarded as forbidden relations for a further marriage. On the other hand, those relationships which were prohibited due to qualifying as seconds, and so forth, were regarded as wicked, but still valid; while they might have pressured such a couple to divorce, any children of the union were still seen as legitimate.

Christian
The Catholic Church regards incest as a sin against the Sacrament of Matrimony. For the Catholic Church, at the heart of the immorality of incest is the corruption and disordering of proper family relations. These disordered relationships take on a particularly grave and immoral character when it becomes child sexual abuse.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: 2388 Incest designates intimate relations between relatives or in-laws within a degree that prohibits marriage between them. St. Paul stigmatizes this especially grave offense: 'It is actually reported that there is immorality among you...for a man is living with his father's wife....In the name of the Lord Jesus...you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh....' Incest corrupts family relationships and marks a regression toward animality.

2389 Connected to incest is any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on children or adolescents entrusted to their care. The offense is compounded by the scandalous harm done to the physical and moral integrity of the young, who will remain scarred by it all their lives; and the violation of responsibility for their upbringing.

The Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Communion allows marriages up to and including first cousins.

Islamic
The Quran gives specific rules regarding incest, which prohibit a man from marrying or having sexual relationships with:


 * his father's wife (his mother, or stepmother ), his mother-in-law, a woman from whom he has nursed, even the children of this woman
 * either parent's sister (aunt),
 * his sister, his half sister, a woman who has nursed from the same woman as he, his sister-in-law (wife's sister) while still married. Half relations are as sacred as are the full relations.
 * his niece (child of sibling),
 * his daughter, his stepdaughter (if the marriage to her mother had been consummated), his daughter-in-law.

Cousin marriage finds support in Islamic scriptures and is widespread in the Middle East.

Although Islam allows cousin marriage, there are Hadiths attributed to Muhammad calling for distance from the marriage of relatives.

Zoroastrian
In Ancient Persia, incest between cousins is a blessed virtue although in some sources incest is believed to be related to that of parent-child or brothers-sisters. Under Zoroastrianism royalty, clergy, and commoners practiced incest, though the extent in the latter class was unknown. This tradition was called Xwedodah. The tradition was considered so sacred, that the bodily fluids produced by an incestuous couple were thought to have curative powers. For instance, the Vendidad advised corpse-bearers to purify themselves with a mixture of urine of a married incestuous couple. Friedrich Nietzsche, in his book The Birth of Tragedy, cited that among Zoroastrians a wise priest is born only by Xvaetvadatha.

To what extent Xvaetvadatha was practiced in Sasanian Iran and before, especially outside the royal and noble families (“dynastic incest”) and, perhaps, the clergy, and whether practices ascribed to them can be assumed to be characteristic of the general population is not clear. There is a lack of genealogies and census material on the frequency of Xvaetvadatha. Evidence from Dura-Europos, however, combined with that of the Jewish and Christian sources citing actual cases under the Sasanians, strengthen the evidence of the Zoroastrian texts. In the post-Sasanian Zoroastrian literature, Xvaetvadatha is said to refer to marriages between cousins instead, which have always been relatively common. It has been observed that such incestuous acts received a great deal of glorification as a religious practice and, in addition to being condemned by foreigners (though the reliability of these accusations is questionable since accusations of incest were a common way of denigrating other groups), were considered a great challenge by its own proponents, with accounts suggesting that four copulations was deemed a rare achievement worthy of eternal salvation. It has been suggested that because taking up incestuous relations was a great personal challenge, seemingly repugnant even to Zoroastrians of the time, that it served as an honest signal of commitment and devotion to religious ideals.

Hindu
Rigveda regard incest to be "evil". Hinduism speaks of incest in abhorrent terms. Hindus believe there are both karmic and practical bad effects of incest and thus practice strict rules of both endogamy and exogamy, in relation to the family tree (gotra) or bloodline (Pravara). Marriage within the gotra (swagotra marriages) are banned under the rule of exogamy in the traditional matrimonial system. People within the gotra are regarded as kin and marrying such a person would be thought of as incest. Marriage with paternal cousins (a form of parallel-cousin relationship) is strictly prohibited.

Although generally marriages between persons having the same gotra are prohibited, how this is defined may vary regionally. Depending on culture and caste of the population in the region, marriage may be restricted up to seven generations of gotra of father, mother, and grandmother. In a few rural areas, marriage is banned within same local community is only allowed with those from outside of the community, as they consider a small village to be like brothers and sisters of one large family. These rules are strictly enforced and a couple breaking them is violently punished sometimes.



Animals
Many species of mammals, including humanity's closest primate relatives, tend to avoid mating with close relatives, especially if there are alternative partners available. However, some chimpanzees have been recorded attempting to mate with their mothers. Male rats have been recorded engaging in mating with their sisters, but they tend to prefer non-related females over their sisters.

Livestock breeders often practice controlled breeding to eliminate undesirable characteristics within a population, which is also coupled with culling of what is considered unfit offspring, especially when trying to establish a new and desirable trait in the stock.

Insects
North Carolina State University found that bed bugs, in contrast to most other insects, tolerate incest and are able to genetically withstand the effects of inbreeding quite well.